1. Dug Down Deep - Joshua Harris
This book helped me out a lot when it comes to guiding me to where I should go with this new desire of knowing God. I just considered myself saved last March of 2010 and this book most certainly brought in the light to shine the things that I have been totally missing my whole life. Finding out who God is through scripture.
I've come to learn that theology matters. And it matters not because we want a good grade on a test but because what we know about God shapes the way we think and live. What you believe about God's nature-- what he is like, what he wants from you, and whether or not you will answer to him--affects every part of your life.- Joshua Harris, Dug Down Deep
2. Your Mind Matters - John Stott
This book set a blaze a fire within me to just know more and more and more. Any feeling that I feel should always be set ablaze by the truth that the Bible testifies about God. In lieu to what Dug Down Deep was, a lot of people has ideas about God. Oprah has one, Deepak Chopra has one, and probably your next door neighbor has one. In order for us not to be easily deceived we need to set our foot on the very book that testifies about the real God.
We shouldn't just bank on our feelings and emotions about God. Our hearts can easily deceive us. Everything else should be set in motion about the facts, the realities and what we know in our head and then catapult our emotions to what we know is real.
I am not pleading for a dry, humorless, academic Christianity, but for a warm devotion set on fire by truth. - John Stott, Your Mind Matters
3. Justification By Faith Alone - R.C. Sproul
To better understand where our faith totally lies I would suggest one should pick up this little dynamite by R.C. Sproul. This book answers on where our whole faith lies. What is it that we believe that Christ has accomplished on the Cross. How are we, Christian followers, declared righteous before the sight of God.
Without sola fide (justification by faith alone) one does not have the gospel; and without the gospel one does not have the Christian faith. - R.C. Sproul, Justification by Faith Alone
4. This Momentary Marriage - John Piper
I have always been the guy that has respected and take relationships seriously. It's not just something people should try out, it's something everyone should work for. And I thought I've got it all together before I even get to read this book. Dr. Piper has managed to rearrange the seriousness of relationships, commitments, and covenants to a whole new level.
As Dennis Rainey stated on his review that this is not just a How To on marriage, this is a why to book about marriage.
This Momentary Marriage managed to point the whole model of marriage back to the Gospel. And I wouldn't just recommend married or those to be married couples to read this book, I would also suggest single people with a desire to be married one day to grab a hold on this book.
Staying married, therefore, is not mainly about staying in love. It is about keeping covenant. "Till death do us part" or "As long as we both shall live" is a sacred covenant promise- the same kind Jesus made with his bride when he died for her.
Christ will never leave his wife. Ever. There may be times of painful distance and tragic backsliding on our part. But Christ keeps his covenant forever. Marriage is a display of that! That is the ultimate thing we can say about it. It puts the glory of Christ's covenant-keeping love on display. - John Piper, This Momentary Marraige
5. Triumph Over Temptation - John Owen
Recently finished and instantly loved. I've been munching on this book for quite some time now because I just have to admit, it's not an easy read. John Owen is one of the prominent Puritans that came out of their days and his treatise on The Mortification of Sin has been one of his most celebrated writings.
This book is a compilation of his three treatises regarding sin. These works of Owen are Of the Mortification of Sin in Believers, Of Temptation, and The Nature, Power, Deceit, and Prevalency of Indwelling Sin.
Anyone who would want to understand or at least see the glimpse of the corruption that we have within us should get a grab of this book. If you could recall the verse in the book of Jeremiah that describes the nature of our hearts as being deceitful, it is because of the sin that dwells within us.
This has totally acted as a mirror in my life and every chapter made me reflect on everything that I have done, am doing and what could possibly do. This book made me extra gracious to the people that I am leading as well since you'll start to understand the corruption that we have within our lives.
I enjoyed reading the last portion which discusses the mortification of sin since it gave out practical things to follow or to check with regards to the sins that we would want to cut off from our lives.
This book will truly help you point out that our salvation is truly of the Lord's and not from us.
When we realize a constant enemy of the soul abides within us, what diligence and watchfulness we should have!
We need to be awake, then, if our hearts would know the ways of God.
Our enemy is not only upon us as it was with Samson, but is also in us. - John Owen, Triumph Over Temptation
Notables:
1. Dangerous Duty of Delight - John Piper
2. Pierced by the Word - John Piper
3. The Five Points of Calvinism - Edwin Palmer
4. The Reformation - Stephen Nichols
5. The Difficult Doctrine of the Love of God - D.A. Carson
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